Please, tell me you didn't?
by Alchemyofanaccident
Summary: A cute little one shot between Aidan, Sally, and Josh. *** Josh comes home from a bad day at work, Aidan has a surprise*** Depending on the reception, could turn into more.


Aidan was sitting in the kitchen, reading, when the resounding slam of the front door announced Josh's arrival home. He sighed, setting the book aside; he'd gotten bored with the television around noon and left it on for Sally. Then turned to reading to pass the rest of his time, until his roommate got home. Which judging by the extra force... it wasn't a good day. The full moon was just one night off, so maybe he was feeling a little extra wolfy. Or, something else had gone wrong with Nora so he was bringing his drama home.

"I don't think today could've gotten any worse," Josh complained irritably as he marched into the kitchen and went straight for the refrigerator. He was still in scrubs. Great, Aidan thought dryly. That meant he'd been too mad to bother taking them off. He wasn't about to ask what'd happened. Then again, he didn't have to.

"Oh," Aidan chanced a secretive smile. "I wouldn't say that."

Josh ignored Aidan's remarked. And in the next instant, launched into a tirade about Dr. Reed, Nora, and dumping an entire cart of bed pans while he eavesdropped on the two getting close. "What – what could she possibly see in him?" he carried on in irritation. "Sure he's good looking, and has money, and a PHD. But, really?" As he ranted he pawed through the refrigerator for a juice.

Sally poofed into the room, appearing on the counter top with her legs crossed; she wound her finger at her ear in the loco gesture as Josh carried on and on. "Come on! Do you ever get tired of hearing yourself rant?" She whined, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not ranting – I'm blowing off steam." The werewolf huffed as he spun on his two – well one roommate; Sally didn't really count; juice box in hand. "He is – this is some kind of -.."

"What, evil plot?" Aidan offered.

"Exactly!" Josh agreed, popping the top to his juice and leaning against the counter. "He's planned this to a tee; he is masterminding my demise, just so he can swoop in and grab Nora like she's some kind of... price to be won."

Sally's eyebrow wrinkled, staring at him as if he were nuts. "Mastermind? Do you think maybe you might be blowing this a little way too out of context?"

He rolled his eyes. "Look – I just... think that... well look at him. He's got so much more to offer her than I do. And," he began, his expression turning sad, "she deserves a normal life which is something I can't give her. Ever. Maybe she deserves somebody like Dr. Reed."

"You just have to relax, carry one of those little brown bags with you and breathe into it when you're getting ready to ... freak out!" Sally chirped as she hopped down from the countertop and walked over to the table where Aidan had been sitting in silence, watching the dynamics unfold between the two.

They traded a glance; he looked to Josh, who thankfully hadn't caught the shared look. He was too busy picking at a piece of lint on his scrub shirt.

Aidan cleared his throat. "Speaking of freaking out... your parents called."

"What?" Josh's eyes flashed up, wide in alarm. "What – what do you mean they called? What did they say?" In his panic, he nearly dropped the juice in his hand. "They – can't – why – why would they?" The words tumbled from his lips in a rush, as he pitched head long into a near anxiety attack; he turned to brace himself against the counter and pulled in several gulps of air.

"Oh... it gets better," Aidan continued. "They're coming, here; tonight." He made a face half way between a smile and a frown as if he were unsure that what he'd just said was a good idea. His dark brown eyes danced to Sally.

Before Sally could interject, Josh cut her off. "They can't! They can't! You – you – you have to call them back and tell them that they can't come here!" He was pacing, which was never a good sign. Aidan always contributed it to his downward spiral into disintegration.

The vampire rubbed his thumb across his nose and frowned. "Well... I can't," he began, pushing his lips together, "because, I kind of already invited them..." He could hardly say no to them wanting to see their own son, even if breaking the news to said 'son' carried the same hazard as launching a nuclear missile.

"Why would you do that?" Josh sunk against the counter, his forehead pressing to the cold surface of the counter top. Dragging in several shallow breaths of air, he tried to calm his galloping heart beat by focusing on other things; Nora – for instance. Even turning his thoughts to the pretty blonde woman with the lipid brown eyes didn't waver the staggering anxiety building up inside of him.

God, this was like a train wreck. No, this was *going* to be a train wreck, a disaster looming on the horizon like storm clouds. He pulled in yet another shaky breath and turned around to face his roommates, leaning against the counter for support; his face was flushed crimson, even the tips of his ears were pink.

"Seriously," he began, the sound of his voice shaky and cracked from the tidal wave of stress. He raked a hand through his hair. "Is your brain rattled? What on earth would make you think it's okay for them to be here?"

Aidan rolled his eyes. "They're your parents; they were worried about you –.."

"Then tell them I'm okay! Don't invite them for dinner," Josh cut in. "Lie! I have the flu, it's contagious; I'm alive and happy, out on a date! Anything!"

"You're unraveling," The vampire said, pointedly. And then looked to Sally with one eyebrow raised.

She propped herself against the edge of the table and crossed her arms. "It's not that bad. You cook a fancy meal; they come over, eat, spend a couple of hours catching up and then they leave." She rolled her eyes. It wasn't as if they were moving in. And really it was only a little dinner. "Just put on your best smile and tell them what they wanna hear."


End file.
